Tag: LAW ENFORCEMENT

In reaction to Seattle's high rate of car theft, local cops are using Twitter to help track down stolen vehicles. The city is asking its citizens to contribute to the search for missing vehicles in 140-character bursts. Police departments have used Twitter to send out alerts to citizens, and occasionally to receive tips, but this new account launched by Seattle law enforcement (@getyourcarback) ...

Police in Rotterdam have begun installing new, high-tech security systems in stores across the Dutch city, in an effort to help local businesses combat theft in particularly crime-plagued neighborhoods. Unlike most security systems, though, Rotterdam's new device doesn't feature any high-pitched alarms or flashing lights. All it does is spray synthetic DNA. As the New York Times explains, the ...

As part of an overarching movement to overhaul the legal protocol that dictates online investigations, police forces are now pushing for the creation of a new national law enforcement Web interface. The hope is to streamline the procedure by which police can seize personal data of suspected cyber criminals. The proposed system would provide police with a direct link to e-mail and Internet ...

Imagine if just by getting a driver's license, you were entering yourself into an unofficial, virtual lineup that police would scour for suspects. Well, if you live in North Carolina, that scenario is already reality. Created by the FBI, a current test program uses facial recognition technology to compare photos of suspects with the state's drivers' license database. According to USA Today, the ...

If the New York Police Department had a dollar for every attempted hack on its computer system, New York cops would be driving around in Ferraris instead of those horrid Crown Victorias (or Impalas). In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that hackers try to breach the NYPD's computer system at least 70,000 times a day, according to the ...

Twitter has not yet ceased to amaze us. A growing number of law enforcement agencies have taken to the 140-character tweet to aid in serving and protecting their citizens, according to an AP report. The Milwaukee Police Department has been tweeting about homicide suspects, community improvements, robbery surveillance footage on their YouTube channel, gang arrests, missing persons, Milwaukee's ...

You know that using a cell phone while driving in New York state is illegal, right? Unless you're using a hands-free kit, it is. Since the law passed, most police officers have been rather lenient in issuing tickets, generally only giving them out when someone is pulled over for another offense -- like speeding or poor driving. Last Thursday, however, police in New York City decided it was time ...

The U.K. police are testing out some new equipment that will have bad guys across the Atlantic asking, "Where do they get all those wonderful toys?" Certain counties in the British Isles are testing out a new device to replace the Stinger system of road spikes used to disable vehicles in police chases. The X-Net is a super-strong net laced with rows of small spikes used by the U.S. military to ...

Just to be clear, police in Japan are not searching for a video game character. They created a Mii -- the custom avatars players can create with their Nintendo Wiis -- to go along with a wanted poster for a very real hit and run. Cops in the Kanagawa prefecture, an area near Tokyo, have put the custom Wii caricature on wanted posters that also feature a picture of the type of car used in the ...

This week, some Washington state lawmakers are pushing a proposal that would require police to extract DNA from every arrested individual. At present, Washington police take DNA samples only from those who have already been convicted of a crime, as a warrant is necessary to obtain the DNA of mere suspects. Under the provisions of the proposal, the collected DNA would be sent off to a State ...

Technology: 1, old people: 0. Police apprehended a woman who allegedly kidnapped her 9-year-old granddaughter using GPS and Google Maps to track the child's cell phone. After picking up the child on Saturday in Massachusetts, the 52-year-old grandmother apparently threatened to keep her granddaughter, telling the girl's guardians they'd never see her again. Once police knew that the girl ...

The CBC and Radio Canada have run a bunch of Taser tests recently, and the results aren't likely to reassure anyone. US-based testing lab National Technical Systems pulled 41 X26 units out of 7 random police stations across the nation, and fired each at least six times. What happened? Well, four of them threw off a current "significantly" higher than a stun gun is supposed to, including some that ...

Surely your remember Project Lantern from back in 2006, right? If you weren't too fond of that initiative, let's just say your worst nightmare is coming true. Going forward, every police force in the UK will be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners, which will allow the fuzz to carry out identity checks right on the street. Dubbed Project Midas, this here setup is supposed to "transform the ...

GPS isn't just for helping the terminally lost any more. Now, law enforcement officials are using the technology to track suspects of domestic violence and stalking. Michigan is the latest state to get on board -- it's even added an automated system that alerts the victims of the crime if the perp is nearby. The biggest advantage of the new Michigan GPS system (the result of a grisly murder by ...

As USA Today reported yesterday, the Clermont County, OH sheriff's department is mopping up the mean streets of Cincinnati with assistance from the very latest in crime-fighting techno-gadgetry. The newly deployed Mobilisa m2500 DefenseID system is a handheld scanner that reads the magnetic strip or barcode on state IDs, driver's licenses and passports. The system then checks the ID against 140 ...